Decorating your homes is all about the trend. First, it was normal concrete floors, then came mosaic floors and next up were the floors made of tiles. Nowadays the trend is seeming to shift towards floors that are made of or at least look and feel like wood.
The most common floor of this type is the engineered hardwood floor, but there are other very good options. Luxury Vinyl planks are one such worthy option.
Whenever something has any other option against it, the online forums are flooded with a debate about which is the better option. The luxury vinyl planks vs engineered hardwood are one such debate that has been raging on in the forums all over the internet. Both of these have their advantages and disadvantages regarding their texture, durability, and longevity.
Let’s take a look at a comparison between these two flooring options to see which one is indeed better.
Luxury Vinyl plank Flooring
Luxury vinyl planks are planks that are manufactured by humans. This means these planks are not wooden planks. In order to replicate the look of real wooden planks, luxury vinyl plank flooring is made in such a way that it looks just like it.
They have markings, colors, and the feel of a wooden plank that is natural. It looks and feels so much like real wood that it is almost impossible to distinguish between a real wooden plank and a luxury vinyl plank at the first glance.
Now, these luxury vinyl planks have their unique characteristics which also means they have their pros and cons. Let’s take a look at those.
Pros of Luxury vinyl planks
Since many people use the luxury vinyl planks, there have to be some good traits of these planks. There are truely quite a few of them. The advantages are as follows:
1. Durability
The first advantage of the luxury vinyl planks holding over-engineered hardwoods or any other natural wooden floors for that matter is that the luxury vinyl planks are more durable than the natural planks.
Since these planks are not natural wood, they come without the weaknesses of their natural counterparts such as moisture. These vinyl planks have no difficulty thriving in moist and damp environments since the moisture doesn’t affect them.
Also, if you have children and/or pets in your home, it’s better to install luxury vinyl planks. These planks are very resistant to damages done through scratching.
2. Easier To Clean And Maintain
One attribute of a flooring material that can make or break the deal is how easy or tough it is to maintain and clean it. If a material looks good but causes massive headaches when it comes to cleaning and maintenance, people will choose not to install it in their homes as there is only so much time they can spare for the chores.
The luxury vinyl planks are very much user-friendly in this regard. For regular cleaning, you can just vacuum the floor. When you need to deep clean it, you don’t need to think twice while using water, since these planks are water-resistant.
In the case of maintenance, a lot of time will be saved if you install LVPs on your floors. Because these planks require minimal maintenance, if at all. Even if the planks get damaged for some reason, you easily replace them by yourself.
3. Easier And Cheaper To Install
Another aspect people tend to look into while installing floor materials is how easy it is to install them. Because if a material is too difficult to install, then the cost of installation as well as maintenance goes up, which is a red flag to most people. The luxury vinyl planks have two installation methods, both of which are very easy.
Because the installation process is very easy, it brings the installation cost down by a lot. Another factor that has a hand in keeping the cost down is the cost of vinyl planks is considerably lower than natural materials. Every square foot of luxury vinyl planks cost between 1 to 4 dollars.
Cons of Luxury Vinyl planks
Despite its abundance of upsides, luxury vinyl planks come with their disadvantages. These are :
1. Cannot Handle Too Much Weight
Despite being very durable, the LVPs can be damaged if the weight of the furniture placed on them is too much. You may notice some dents in this case.
2. Susceptible To Damage From Sunlight
If the LVPs are exposed to direct sunlight for an extended amount of time, the planks will certainly lose their color. Then you will need to replace them as soon as possible.
Engineered Hardwood Flooring
Engineered hardwoods are multilayered planks that have top and bottom layers made of 100% natural wood. While the middle layers are made of artificial woods such as plywood. These are an excellent choice to make your floor with since the wood doesn’t change size and shape due to the temperature change and so provides the floor with a stable core.
Pros of Engineered hardwood
Engineered wood flooring is made of natural wood, so it comes with all the advantages of the natural wooden floor. Let’s take a look at those pros.
1. Durability
Though the engineered hardwood floors are made mostly from natural wood, they are very much resistant to water and temperature. So moisture and temperature don’t alter their shape and size. It can also hold a lot more weight than vinyl planks, so they are not susceptible to dings and dents.
2. Stylish
Both LVPs and engineered hardwood floors are very stylish and trendy. But the LVPs look and feel like natural wood, but aren’t exactly woods. On the other hand, engineered hardwood comes in a variety of wooden layers, so not only do they offer more varied looks, but they also offer more options to make your home look more aesthetic.
3. Can Be Installed In Not-So-Wood-Friendly Places
As the engineered hardwoods are very resistant to both heat and moisture, you can install them in places that are not otherwise suitable for wooden floors. So you can install the engineered hardwood in your basement and other places that are subjected to more moisture and heat than the rest of your house and rest easy.
Cons of engineered hardwood
Being made of natural wood comes with its fair share of pros as well as cons. Let’s take a look at the downsides of the engineered hardwood.
1. Not Suitable for Children And Pets
If your house has pets and children, it’s better not to install engineered hardwood on your floors since these are very susceptible to damage from scratches. It will look really bad when that happens.
2. Harder to clean
For regular cleaning of engineered hardwood, you won’t face too many difficulties. But problems arise when you need to heavy clean it. And, some engineered hardwoods, especially the traditional ones aren’t waterproof too. In that case, you’ll need a special cleaner designed for hardwood and a damp cloth.
3. Can be costly
Being made of natural wood makes it costlier than LVPs. Where each square foot of LVPs cost 4 dollars at most, the engineered hardwood cost at least twice that amount. Being costly makes it more expensive to install as well.
Author’s opinion
If there’s anything we’ve learned from the above comparative discussion of luxury vinyl plank and engineered hardwood is that both of them are more or less similar when it comes to their basic traits. But being budget-friendly and easy to install gives the LVPs a bit of the upper hand over the engineered hardwood.
This is Autem Decker. Main Author of ‘TheHomeDigs‘. You may not find her on the list of top 10 contemporary Canadian interior designers, but everyone who knows her says she was born to be an interior designer.
She makes her plan in her head and draws them in her years-old diary with a note in the corner. The way she plays with color and shape amazes us.
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